Sunday, March 11, 2007

So what happened at the first ever Brooklyn Real Estate Roundtable at the Brooklyn Historical Society?

The Brooklyn Eagle reports that it attracted 100 attendees (40 were initially expected). Steven Spinola, president of the Real Estate Board of New York focused on "the recently-passed and controversial reform to the 421-a property tax exemption program for builders of new housing." He said he told the mayor that the reform was “a major, major mistake."

Spinola said he believes the reform measure — which, the Eagle has reported, applies to Downtown, DUMBO, Brooklyn Heights, Carroll Gardens, Cobble Hill, Boerum Hill, Park Slope and Gowanus; most of Fort Greene, Prospect Heights, Williamsburg and Greenpoint; and portions of Sunset Park and Bushwick — will put an end to all the development.

Already, he said, there is a rush by developers to “get their footage in the ground by Dec. 28” (the reformed 421-a program, which mandates 20 percent of units to be affordable, takes effect Jan. 1, 2008).